Meeting Agenda Template

This agenda combines Benjamin Franklin’s original 24 standing questions from the Junto (1732) with a modern meeting format. The original questions are preserved in full — they are more practical and actionable than most modern adaptations.

Standard Junto Meeting (90 minutes)

1. Opening (5 min)

Welcome, housekeeping, confirm facilitator and note-taker.

2. Check-In Round (10 min)

Each member answers one question (1-2 minutes each):

“What’s one thing you’ve worked on or learned since we last met?“

3. Standing Questions (20 min)

Select 2-3 questions from the original 24 below. Rotate through them over multiple meetings — all 24 should be covered every 8-12 sessions.

4. Featured Topic (40 min)

One member presents a topic, challenge, or resource. Group discusses using facilitation techniques and the anti-dogmatism norm.

5. Action Review (5 min)

Quick round: “Did you follow through on your commitment from last meeting?“

6. Commitments (10 min)

Each member states one specific action they’ll take before the next meeting.

Franklin’s Original 24 Standing Questions (1732)

These are the actual questions Franklin wrote for the Junto’s weekly meetings. They are not philosophical abstractions — they are an intelligence-sharing and mutual-aid protocol designed to surface useful knowledge, identify opportunities to help others, and drive civic action.

The questions divide into four functional categories. A well-run Junto draws from all four.

Knowledge Exchange (Questions 1-2)

1. Have you met with any thing in the author you last read, remarkable, or suitable to be communicated to the Junto? Particularly in history, morality, poetry, physics, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?

2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in conversation?

These ensure every meeting begins with intellectual exchange. Members are expected to arrive having read or learned something worth sharing.

Local Intelligence (Questions 3-10)

3. Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?

4. Have you lately heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by what means?

5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?

6. Do you know of any fellow citizen, who has lately done a worthy action, deserving praise and imitation? Or who has committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?

7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or heard? Of imprudence? Of passion? Or of any other vice or folly?

8. What happy effects of temperance? Of prudence? Of moderation? Or of any other virtue?

9. Have you or any of your acquaintance been lately sick or wounded? If so, what remedies were used, and what were their effects?

10. Who do you know that are shortly going voyages or journies, if one should have occasion to send by them?

Questions 3-5 are specifically about economic intelligence — who failed, who thrived, and how. This peer intelligence-sharing made the Junto an invaluable business network, not just a discussion club. Questions 6-8 turn individual observations into collective lessons.

Civic Action (Questions 11-15)

11. Do you think of any thing at present, in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind? To their country, to their friends, or to themselves?

12. Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since last meeting, that you have heard of? And what have you heard or observed of his character or merits? And whether think you, it lies in the power of the Junto to oblige him, or encourage him as he deserves?

13. Do you know of any deserving young beginner lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?

14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your country, of which it would be proper to move the legislature an amendment? Or do you know of any beneficial law that is wanting?

15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?

These questions drove the Junto’s civic output. Question 11 led to the founding of Philadelphia’s first lending library, a volunteer fire company, a public hospital, and the University of Pennsylvania. Questions 12-13 are mutual-aid triggers — actively seeking people to help. Questions 14-15 are civic watchdog functions.

Mutual Aid (Questions 16-24)

16. Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? And what can the Junto do towards securing it?

17. Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto, or any of them, can procure for you?

18. Have you lately heard any member’s character attacked, and how have you defended it?

19. Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the power of the Junto to procure redress?

20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honourable designs?

21. Have you any weighty affair in hand, in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?

22. What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?

23. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at the next meeting?

24. Do you see any thing amiss in the present customs or proceedings of the Junto, which might be amended?

Questions 16-22 are extraordinary: they explicitly ask members to surface their own needs so the group can act on them. Most modern groups ask members to give, not to ask. Franklin built requesting help into the protocol — making it a duty, not a weakness. Question 24 is a standing retrospective: the meeting format itself is perpetually improvable.

Using the Original Questions in Modern Groups

Don’t modernize them too much

The original phrasing is part of their power. “Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately?” is more direct and useful than “What challenges are people in your network facing?”

Cover all four categories

Most modern “mastermind groups” only do Knowledge Exchange (Q1-2) and one Mutual Aid question (Q21). They drop the Local Intelligence and Civic Action categories — which were the engine of the Junto’s outsized civic output.

Adapt for your context

“Citizen” → member of your community, city, or industry
“Business” → project, initiative, organization
“Laws” → policies, bylaws, norms, standards
“Voyages” → conferences, trips, events, opportunities

Don’t rush

Pick 2-3 questions per meeting. Go deep. Track which you’ve covered and rotate through all 24 over multiple sessions.

Membership Qualification Questions

Franklin also wrote four questions that prospective Junto members had to answer standing, with a hand on the breast:

Have you any particular disrespect to any present members?
Do you sincerely declare that you love mankind in general; of what profession or religion soever?
Do you think any person ought to be harmed in his body, name or goods, for mere speculative opinions, or his external way of worship?
Do you love truth for truth’s sake, and will you endeavour impartially to find and receive it yourself and communicate it to others?

These are worth adapting for your onboarding process. They filter for good faith, pluralism, tolerance, and commitment to truth — the foundations of productive community.

Meeting Agenda Template

Meeting Agenda Template

Standard Junto Meeting (90 minutes)

1. Opening (5 min)

2. Check-In Round (10 min)

3. Standing Questions (20 min)

4. Featured Topic (40 min)

5. Action Review (5 min)

6. Commitments (10 min)

Franklin’s Original 24 Standing Questions (1732)

Knowledge Exchange (Questions 1-2)

Local Intelligence (Questions 3-10)

Civic Action (Questions 11-15)

Mutual Aid (Questions 16-24)

Using the Original Questions in Modern Groups

Don’t modernize them too much

Cover all four categories

Adapt for your context

Don’t rush

Membership Qualification Questions

Further Reading